Directors’ biographies

Director's report

Directors’ biographies

Lord Smith of Kelvin

Chair

One of the UK’s most experienced chairs, Lord Smith has led organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors. He was Chair of SSE until July 2015. In 2014 he chaired the Organising Committee for Glasgow 2014 (Commonwealth Games) and the Smith Commission on further powers for the Scottish Parliament. A chartered accountant by profession and former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, Lord Smith was knighted in 1999, appointed to the House of Lords as an independent cross-bench peer in 2008, appointed Knight of the Thistle in 2013, and awarded the Companion of Honour in 2016.

Ron Emerson

Non-executive Chair until 30 September 2016

Ron brought a broad range of business skills and experience to the Board during his time and role as Non-executive Chair. He spent his early career in international banking where he held a number of senior management positions with Bank of America and Standard Chartered Bank. Ron divides his time between Non-executive directorships, business advisory work, and as an active member of the Faculty of Management Studies at Oxford University.

He has also acted as a Senior Advisor at the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority.

Christina McComb

Christina McComb has held a range of senior private and public sector roles and has a track record in private equity and venture capital investment and has direct experience of advising small and medium-sized businesses. Christina is a former Director of 3i plc and has senior public sector experience, having been a founding Director of the Shareholder Executive established by the Cabinet Office and former Department of Trade and Industry. Christina is currently Chair of OneFamily, a modern financial mutual organization. She is also Senior Independent Director at Standard Life Private Equity Trust plc and a Non-executive Director of Baronsmead Venture Trust plc and early stage technology company Nexeon Ltd.

Jonathan Britton

Independent Non-executive Director – Audit Committee Chair

Jonathan Britton has over 35 years’ experience in banking, spanning corporate, SME and investment banking businesses. His most recent executive roles were as Divisional Finance Director and Head of Strategy for the Wholesale Division at Lloyds Banking Group from 2009 to 2013 and prior to that, Global Controller and Head of Treasury at Barclays Bank plc from 2006 to 2008. He previously held senior posts in UBS’s Investment Banking Department. Jonathan is currently a Non-executive Director of Nomura Europe Holdings plc, and also chairs its Audit Committee. He was a Non-executive Director and chair of the Audit Committee of ICIC Bank UK Ltd from 2011 to 2017.

Neeta Atkar

Independent Non-executive Director and Chair of Risk Committee

Neeta is an experienced Risk Professional with over 25 years’ experience working in the financial services private and public sectors across a range of risk disciplines.

Thereafter, she has held senior positions at both banks and insurance companies, in a range of roles covering operational, credit and regulatory risks.

Neeta started her career at the Bank of England before moving to the FSA on its creation. Until the end of 2016, Neeta was the Chief Risk Officer at TSB Bank plc and was a key member of the Executive team that was responsible for creating the bank that was divested from Lloyds Banking Group and undertaking a successful IPO in 2014. She is currently on the Board of Yorkshire Building Society Group and is Chair of the Risk Committee.

She has been a Justice of the Peace for 20 years.

Colin Glass

Independent Non-executive Director

Colin is a Chartered Accountant with his own practice, Winburn Glass Norfolk (WGN). He is or has been a Non-executive Director of several companies, some of which are quoted on AIM. He acts as a mentor to early stage SMEs with high-growth potential. In January 2011 he was awarded Non-executive Director of the Year in the Grant Thornton sponsored Quoted Company Awards for his work with AIM-quoted SMEs.

In 2016 he was included in the Maserati 100 and was awarded an OBE in the 2017 Queen’s New Year Honour’s list, for services to business startups and entrepreneurship.

Teresa Graham

Independent Non-executive Director

Teresa graduated from Newcastle University. During her time working in a Big Four accounting practice, she was seconded to the UK government’s Enterprise and Deregulation Unit. In March 1988 she was appointed to the government’s Deregulation Advisory Panel for a two year term and served through two decades of administrations.

She was also the first female laureate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Teresa now works independently focusing on her three passions – strategic advice to ambitious, growing businesses, liberating these businesses from the fetters of red tape and running The Lexi Cinema and The Nomad, both social enterprises in the cinema space covenanting 100% of their profits to a charity in South Africa. She holds a number of appointments, including non-executive, mentoring and advisory roles in growth businesses. She was awarded a CBE in 2007 and an OBE in 1997.

Caroline Green

Independent Non-executive Director

Caroline is Chief Operating Officer and Chief Finance Officer of network accessories vendor ProLabs Limited having held CFO positions in both private equity-backed and listed businesses. Caroline has also spent eight years in private equity, initially at 3i plc and started her career at Xerox Corp in a variety of roles including supply chain, manufacturing and finance.

Caroline is also vice-Chair of unseen (UK), the charity dedicated to eradication of human trafficking and slavery.

Ceri Smith

Shareholder Representative Director

Ceri Smith is a Director at UK Government Investments whose responsibilities include overseeing the British Business Bank on behalf of its Shareholder, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He previously worked in HM Treasury, the Department for Business and the Foreign Office. Responsibilities have included advising on business finance, employment law, SME taxation and developing the government’s Enterprise Capital Fund Programme.

Keith Morgan

Chief Executive Officer

Keith led the planning and establishment of the British Business Bank from January 2013, and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in December 2013. Prior to this, Keith was a Director at UK Financial Investments, joining in 2009 to manage the UK Government’s shareholdings in Bradford & Bingley, Northern Rock and Northern Rock Asset Management. Keith joined UKFI from Banco Santander where he was a Director of Sovereign Bancorp in the US. He was previously Director of Strategy and Planning at Abbey National and a member of the Executive Committee, and also served as Chairman of Santander’s Asset Management and Credit Card businesses in the UK. Before joining Abbey in 2004, Keith spent 18 years at LEK Consulting, where he was a partner specialising in financial services.

Christopher Fox

Chief Finance Officer and Head of Central Services, Executive Director

Christopher is Chief Financial Officer and is also responsible for central functions including HR, IT, Change and Admin. Prior to joining the British Business Bank, Christopher was Head of Banking at UK Financial Investments, where he was responsible for overseeing HM Government’s shareholdings in Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and UK Asset Resolution. He was also a Non-executive Director at UK Asset Resolution, Bradford & Bingley and NRAM. Christopher joined UKFI from UBS, where he gained extensive experience of financial services over nearly 20 years. He is a qualified accountant.

Patrick Magee

Chief Operating Officer, Executive Director

Patrick joined the British Business Bank as Chief Operating Officer in October 2014. He had previously represented the government’s shareholder interests on its Board. Before joining the Shareholder Executive in June 2012, Patrick was a Managing Director of corporate finance at JP Morgan Cazenove, having worked at the predecessor firms for almost 18 years. He has broad experience of working with companies which work closely with government including banks, utilities and support services/infrastructure providers. During his time at the Shareholder Executive Patrick led the team working on the the set-up and governance of the British Business Bank as well as work on a range of the companies in the Shareholder Executive portfolio.